9 Aug – Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment and Brian Gazer has managed to obtained full motion picture rights to the entire Anne Rice's "Vampire Chronicles" series and they are setting up Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci to develop the potential film franchise. Orci and Kurtzman used to work together in a couple of other famous films; they co-wrote "Watchmen" and "The Amazing Spider-Man 2", co-produced "Now You See Me", and are currently working together on upcoming films such as, "The Amazing Spider-Man 3" and "The Mummy". There are a total of eleven books in Anne Rice's "Vampire Chronicles" series. The first book "Interview with the Vampire" was published in 1976 with the last book, "Prince Lestat" set to publish on 28 October 2014.
Anne Rice's novel series, "Vampire Chronicles" centered on Lestat de Lioncourt, a French noble who was turned into a vampire in the 18th century. In 1994, a film adaptation based on the first book, "Interview with the Vampire" was made by Warner Bros starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas, Christian Slater and Kirsten Dunst. The film was a box office success receiving international gross of USD224 million.
In 2002, the sequel to the film entitled "Queen of Damned" which is based on the second and third arc of the novel series was made starring Stuart Townsend (as Lestat) and Aaliyah (as the Vampire Queen). Although the film received negative reviews from critics, it was considered a box office success. The new project which is aims to be similar as the "Twilight" franchise development will be overseen by Imagine Entertainment President Erica Huggins and will have Bobby Cohen as executive producer.